Indian team was playing against arch rival Pakistan in Asia cup today. Even though coach for the Indian team, Sjoerd Mrijne had asked fans to treat it like any other normal match, an India vs Pakistan, especially hockey, is never just a match. It is war. A nail-biting epic encounter that gets us all to the edge of the seat. Yet again we had one such encounter with Pakistan in the rectangular court today. 26 minutes after the game had started India took the lead as Chinglensana Singh slotted home a cool finish.
Within two minutes, India almost took double the lead but missed by inches.
At 35 minutes, Pakistan received a second penalty corner but they missed it as they did earlier as India goalkeeper Suraj Kerkera made a great save to keep the scoreline 1-0 in India’s favour. After 50 minutes, the Third quarter was underway. Pakistan was down to 9 players after Rizwan Senior and Mahmoud received two yellow cards.
At the 70th minute, it was 2-0 for India as Ramandeep nets in India’s second goal.
India got their energy and confidence back as they scored another within just 30 seconds of Ramandeep’s goal! Harmanpreet converted the penalty successfully as the third quarter came to an end.
Forth quarter. Pakistan came with a new-found energy, scored their first goal through Ali Shan. Next minute, they almost scored their second, received a penalty corner instead. They were, however, not able to convert it. As the match came to an end, India was already on cloud nine.
For India, Chinglesana, Ramandeep and Harmanpreet got onto the scoresheet while Ali Shaan scored the lone goal for Pakistan.
Both the team missed multiple chances during the match. India had a golden chance when Pakistan was down to 9 players but failed to make the most of it, not scoring a single goal while the team in green was the weakest. But that does not matter anymore. India now stands at the top of Pool A with nine points, qualifying for the Super 4.
